The mammoth journey between the two sides only increases the hunger for a win

The challenges of a long away trip. Maybe six hours or so crammed tight into a coach to travel to a distant part of the country? That’s nothing compared to the journey involved when the two teams with the biggest geographical distance between them competing in the same domestic club league in the world go face to face twice a season in the A-League Women.

Perth Glory took on Wellington Phoenix on Sunday in the latest fixture of what has become known as “The Distance Derby”. The two cities are 3,264 miles apart. The flight between the two takes between nine and ten hours with a stopover. Also factor in the fact that Perth is five hours ahead of Wellington, and you get the mammoth trip to end all long away journeys.

Of course, any away trip is an epic one for either of these sides. Whilst all of Wellington Phoenix’s away games are in Australia (until next season when they will breathe a sigh of relief with Auckland coming into the competition as well), Perth face huge distances to travel when they play the other 10 Australian clubs in the league.

The Glory’s closest away game is the 1,619 miles trip for their encounter at Adelaide United. That is a three and a quarter hour flight. Travelling to play in Sydney or Melbourne involves flights the equivalent length of one from London to Turkey.

Perth’s closest away game is still longer than that of Wellington Phoenix’s shortest away trip (to Sydney) despite the Kiwi side being located in a different country altogether.

Perth has always been an outlier – a forgotten part of Australia. It’s the only major city on the whole of the west coast of the country. Its state, Western Australia, is the same size as mainland Europe but with a population of just 2.9 million – 2.3 million of whom live in the Perth/Fremantle area. It’s the most isolated major city in the world, with Singapore closer than Sydney. No wonder throughout history there have been campaigns for Western Australia to become a separate nation. It certainly has the finances behind it to do so.

Therefore, it’s no surprise that these two clubs have developed a relationship, almost an affinity as they are the two “other” clubs in the A-League Women. It was a bond that was strengthened during the COVID ravaged season of 2021/22 when both sides had to be based in a hub in New South Wales – over six hours away by plane from their natural bases to play their matches. The Glory v Phoenix games that season were given the additional moniker of “The Suitcase Derby”.

As a Perth Glory fan since the first season of what was then the W-League in 2008, due to having three generations of my family living in the Perth/Fremantle region, I’ve watched the team develop and go through the highs of Grand Finals in the years of our hometown hero Sam Kerr, to the lows of recent times, without any sort of feeling towards our opponents. That all changed in 2021 when Wellington Phoenix came into the league. Their steady year on year improvements playing a great style of football and socking it to the East Coast Australian sides has given me many smiles.

But what is it like for the players and coaching staff to have to endure the sort of journey that is involved to play in a Distance Derby?

Speaking to me ahead of Perth’s game in Wellington earlier this season, Glory head coach Stephen Peters said: "We think about the football aspect and prepare the players as best we can and try and have an energetic performance, because the main concern is that you won't travel well, and we need to do that part well.”

He hinted that a lot of the players see positives in the trip as it allows time for real team bonding and supporting each other.

Indeed, the Glory’s Welsh international Megan Wynne felt that the journey itself was better than a long away trip playing in the Barclays Championship, saying ahead of her first trip to Wellington in December 2024: "Travelling to Sunderland was six, seven hours on a coach, so for me, flying seems more of a walk in the park rather than jumping on a crammed coach.

"It's certainly going to be different! A lot of us haven't been to New Zealand, not alone the flight all the way there and that long trip, but we'll be well prepared. We're flying two days before."

However, whilst travelling to Sunderland on a coach was a long trip for Wynne, at least it was on the same time zone. With Perth five hours ahead of Wellington, that part of the trip has a major impact on player wellbeing. As does the inevitable delays.

Perth striker Ella Lincoln made her professional debut in that game in Wellington back in December. The joy of wearing the purple of her hometown club for the first time was mixed with the journey from hell coming back – a trip that took over 14 hours.

"It was definitely very long, and coming back we got delayed and there was a plane stuck on the tarmac, so it was a really long journey,” She told me the following week.

So last weekend, it was Wellington Phoenix who had to take the huge trek across to Western Australia.

The time difference meant that kick-off time – 5pm local time was the equivalent of 10pm back in Wellington. Yet the Phoenix went into the encounter having won their last three games against the Glory after the home side had won the first four of the encounters.

Due to the geographical distance between the two sides, the league form book often goes out of the window when they play. But going into the game, the New Zealanders were placed in seventh – one spot outside the end of season Finals. Perth had been beset by a horrific run of injuries which has ruled out almost their entire midfield and striking stocks during the campaign, and had only won three times all season.

With the Glory welcoming back key creator Sarah O’Donoghue from a long spell in the treatment room, they were a team transformed. However, even the return of the midfielder and Kelli Brown up front was tempered by the news that Georgia Cassidy (midfield) and Gabby Hollar (striker) had been potentially ruled out for the rest of the season, plus goalkeeper Casey Dumont now has an Achilles strain. It meant that young Western Australian Miranda Templeman started in goal, and 17-year-old local product Jess Skinner had to come in as sub keeper.

However, such was O’Donoghue’s influence, Perth were a side transformed, and in front of a raucous home crowd of just under a thousand, ironically their smallest of the season so far, they turned on the style.

Just after the half-hour mark, the home side hit the front, and it was O'Donoghue who showed her worth once more as she laid a low ball across for co-captain, the Barnsley-born Izzy Dalton, to take a touch and then direct the ball into the net.

In a first half that was superbly end to end, the visitors hit back just before the break. Annalie Longo was making intelligent runs and supremely weighted passes into the feet of the Wellington strike force all game, and she managed to thread a ball that took out the Perth defence and allowed Staffordshire-born Olivia Fergusson to slide a shot home.

The home side had hit the bar twice during the opening period from Caitlin Doeglas, and felt hard done by to go in 1-1 at the interval.

Despite Wellington having the better of the early stages of the second half, it was Perth that earned the three points with just under 20 minutes of the game remaining.

Welsh international Megan Wynne broke along the right and threaded a low ball into the mix. Under huge pressure from Kelli Brown breathing down her neck from behind, Phoenix defender Tiana Jaber put the ball into her own net. The Glory haven't been on the receiving end of much luck this season, but this was a reward for their application and belief.

So, Perth Glory ran out winners of the eighth “Distance Derby” – they now lead the series 5-3. However, you sense there is relief among both teams that thoughts of the marathon journeys involved to play this particular A-League Women fixture can now be put on hold until next season.